Deputy Minister Foreign Petrit Selimi was on an official visit in Oslo

Download picture in higher resolution

Secretary of the State Larsen confirmed that Norway’s MFA continues to have Kosovo as a priority even in the years to come as it continues the high level of financial support, which makes Norway the second bilateral donor in terms of projects. Secretary Larsen commended the Government of Kosovo for the very appropriate and progressive stance while Serbian elections were organized by OSCE in enabling the voting of residents with dual citizenship.

Deputy Minister Selimi also met with Mrs. Elisabeth Walaas, General Director of the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs whom he briefed on the recent developments in Kosovo and in the region and of the Kosovo MFA stance regarding key matters of multilateral and regional collaboration in the Western Balkans. Mrs. Walaas provided powerful supports the engagements of Kosovo’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs in regional collaboration matters and stated that it expects from Kosovo to have concrete benefits from all this positive engagement of the youngest state in the region.

For Deputy Minister Selimi, the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs offered a business lunch led by Ambassador Hakon Blankenborg, Policy Director for the section of the Western Balkans at Norwegian MFA. During this business lunch both parties discussed ways how the Norwegian MFA could financially support Kosovo’s MFA public diplomacy and cultural projects and in providing technical assistance for the visa liberalization project since Norway is an active member of Schengen community. Ambassador Blankenborg expressed himself positively on the possibilities of supporting Kosovo MFA projects by calling them a proper investment in increasing Kosovo’s visibility in the area of public diplomacy.

During his stay in Oslo, the deputy minister also met with the director of the Norwegian Institute for Foreign Policy and professor Ulf Sverdrup from the University of Oslo where Selimi has also graduated. Prof. Sverdrup expresses his interest for the MFA strategy regarding the recognitions process and in increasing internal capacities and promised the engagement of the renowned Norwegian institute in cooperating with Kosovo’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. During the visit in Oslo, Deputy Minister Selimi had also business meeting with the heads of the well-known company Snohetta, whose architects designed facilities such as the 9/11 Museum in New York, Oslo’s Opera and the Alexandria’s New Library. Meanwhile a reception was also organized for Mr. Selimi at the Berg International School in Oslo where the Deputy Minister attended in the late 90’s.